River
| movement = | minerals_arcanus = None | minerals_myrror = None | change_terrain = No Effect | gaia's_blessing = No effect }} River is a type of Terrain in the world of Master of Magic. Rivers are actually formed as a long line of River tiles stretching from an inland position towards either the Ocean, an inland lake, or another River. There are no isolated River tiles. Rivers provide an excellent source of sustenance: building Towns near Rivers will help them grow very quickly, and may enable these Towns to produce very large quantities of . Furthermore, any Town built directly on a River tile will receive a permanent bonus of +20% to its production, making that town very rich (especially if it also grows very large). This bonus does not apply if the town is built adjacent to a River tile, rather than on top one. Rivers are always empty of Minerals and will never contain Encounter zones. Furthermore, they may not be affected by any spell that alters the Terrain, such as or . Rivers are difficult to cross for units, though Roads may be built across them at a fairly good speed, allowing faster movement. Despite being essentially a waterway, River tiles may not be entered by units. River tiles should not be confused with River Mouth tiles. Though the relationship between these two types of Terrain is important, these tiles behave somewhat differently. Description As rainfall occurs up in the hills or mountains deep inland, this water is drawn by gravity back towards the Oceans. If this water fails to filtrate into the bowels of the earth, it has no choice but to run across the surface. Over time, the movement of water actually carves out a path across the terrain by carrying tiny pieces of earth with it over many millennia. The end result is the formation of a gash in the surface along which water prefers to flow. As this gash widens, it will eventually become a River, transporting a vast quantity of water each year from the highlands back down to the ocean. The presence of so much water will cause the land around a River to become very fertile, drawing in both animals and plantlife. Rivers themselves are also often teeming with fish. Seepage of mineral-laden water into the ground around the River will further increase the fertility of the land. Humanoids in particular find living near a River very desirable. Agriculture can benefit terrifically from the River's fertility, and humanoids eventually find ways to also travel up and down the River to quickly reach other locales, faster than they ever could on foot. Even goods can be transported this way in a much easier fashion than they would on roads across the land. Geography River tiles are never isolated. When the world is created, the game will "stretch" several Rivers across the land. Each River begins inland, usually next to a Mountain or Hill tile, and runs across several tiles. The end of the River always meets the Shore of an Ocean or inland lake. The final tile in this series is always a River Mouth tile. The game will generate a random number of Rivers on each Plane, though the total maximum number is 10 Rivers per plane (according to the official Strategy Guide). Each of these Rivers can be several tiles long. Town Development River tiles are some of the most desirable types of Terrain for settlement. The primary reason for this is that Rivers give the best bonus to nearby towns' Maximum Population, thus enabling such towns to grow rapidly and to reach very large sizes. Only Nature Nodes, and Forest tiles containing a Wild Game, provide a better Maximum Population bonus than Rivers. Furthermore, new Settlements are best built on top of a River, rather than next to one, as this gives the town a permanent bonus of . The only locations better than this in terms of additional income are River Mouth tiles, which combine the bonus of Rivers with those of Shores (for a total of ); however, building on them often requires the inclusion of useless Ocean tiles in the Town's catchment area. Maximum Population : A River tile within the catchment area of a town will provide +2.0 to that town's Maximum Population. In other words, if a town were to be surrounded entirely by River tiles, its Maximum Population would be 42 (21 tiles * 2.0 = 42). Note however that in terms of city size, a town's Maximum Population is actually limited to 25 (this does not affect other properties derived from it, only the city size is capped). Maximum Population dictates the absolute maximum number of citizens a town can have. Once it reaches this many citizens, it will simply stop growing. It also determines the town's rate of Population Growth: the larger the gap between current- and Maximum Population, the faster the town grows. Furthermore, Maximum Population also determines how much can be produced in a town before inefficiency sets in. Once this limit of Food production is reached, additional citizens assigned to Farmer duty will produce much less - thus being inefficient. Higher Maximum Population means a higher production efficiency threshold, thus allowing more Farmers to be assigned while still keeping full efficiency. These factors clearly illustrate how beneficial River tiles are to nearby Towns. Any Settlement built next to (or on top of) a River will have terrific growth rates, and may end up being extremely large when it is done growing. Such towns can produce a massive quantity of for the empire, and the sheer amount of citizens can also translate into high and/or output! Gold Output Bonus If a Town is placed directly on top of a River tile, it will enjoy that River's bonus of . This bonus is based on the amount of produced by the town's citizens through Taxation, plus any income from nearby Minerals such as Silver Ore, Gold Ore or Gems. If a Miners' Guild is present in the town, its effects on the value of such Minerals is calculated before the bonus from the River, thus increasing the River's total benefit. For example, imagine a town that produces from Taxation plus from nearby Minerals - for a total of . If this town is also directly on top of a River tile, the River will yield another (80 * 20% = 16). Again, this only applies if the town is built directly on top of a River tile. If the town is only adjacent to a River, it does not gain this bonus. Financial centers are thus best built on top of Rivers. In fact, any town that has an option to be built either next to or on top of a River should probably be placed on the River, assuming it does not give up other good tiles (especially Minerals) in order to do so. Common Minerals River tiles will never contain any Terrain Specials, whether Minerals, Nodes, or Encounter zones. The game explicitly prohibits this. Of course, the benefits from the River itself are often high enough to make it as valuable as a Mineral, especially if Towns can be built right on top of the River itself (see above). Movement River tiles are difficult to cross on foot. units lose 2 Movement Points when entering a River tile. units treat River tiles like any other tile. They take only 1 Movement Point to enter it. Similarly, stacks (e.g. Non-Corporeal units) can enter this tile at their usual 0.5 Movement Points. Despite being a water tile, units that do not have an alternative ability cannot enter River tiles at all. However, units can also cross Rivers for only 1 Movement Point. Roads and Road Construction As with any land tile, River tiles can be upgraded with a Road. This is accomplished using Engineers, who are only available to certain Races. Constructing a Road through a River tile is somewhat difficult, probably requiring the Engineers to construct a bridge across it. A single unit of Engineers will take 5 turns to construct a Road on a River tile. Each further unit of Engineers reduces this by about 50% (rounded down). Therefore, 2 units will take 2 turns, and 3 or more units can build the Road in a single turn. Additional Engineers (beyond 3) do not speed this up any further. Dwarf Engineers work twice as fast as other Engineers. This means that a single Dwarf Engineers unit can complete a Road in a River tile in only 2 turns, and 2 or more will only take 1 turn to construct a River road. Once a road has been built, the cost to enter this River tile changes to 0.5 for all units, regardless of their movement type. Note however that units still cannot enter this tile, since they cannot move on land. If the road was constructed on Myrror, or affected by the spell, movement costs to enter this tile are completely removed for most units. In other words, and units can enter this tile without spending any movement points. However, Non-Corporeal units cannot use this special road, and will still require 0.5 Movement Points to enter the tile. Change Terrain River tiles are considered invalid targets for the spell. Attempting to cast this spell at a River tile results in the game will popping up an error message saying that this tile may not be targeted. In fact, no spell can change a River into any other kind of Terrain! Gaia's Blessing Similarly, the spell cannot affect Rivers either. Category:Terrain Types